Since the Alliance's military forces are a mish-mash of army and navy forces, determining the relative rank of various officers can be confusing. During training and while on SpecForces-only missions, SpecCom ranks its members in the following manner:
| SpecForce Rank | Command Level | Equivalent Alliance Army Rank | Equivalent Alliance Navy Rank |
| General | Division | General | Admiral |
| Colonel | Regiment (TC) | Colonel | Captain |
| Major | Regiment or Company (TC) | Major | Commander |
| Captain | Company or Platoon (TC) | Captain | Lieutenant |
| Senior Lieutenant | Platoon (TC) | Lieutenant | Lieutenant |
| Lieutenant | Platoon | Lieutenant | Ensign |
| Master Sergeant | Platoon Second in Command | Sergeant Major | Chief Petty Officer |
| Sergeant | Squad | Sergeant | Petty Officer |
| Senior Trooper (First Trooper) | Fire Team | Senior Trooper | Senior Deckman |
| Trooper | — | Trooper | Deckman |
| Army Organization in Brief
To get a quick understanding of the organization of the Army, use the following reference. Squad. Has eight combat soldiers, in addition to and commanded by a sergeant; corporal is second-in-command, chosen from the regular soldiers. The basic combat unit in the Imperial Army. Platoon. A platoon is composed of four squads. Commanded by lieutenant (platoon commander) and sergeant major (second-in-command). Company. Composed of four platoons. Commanded by a captain. Battalion. A battalion is composed of four companies, commanded by a major. This is normally the minimum size unit for surface operations. Regiment. A regiment is generally made up of four battalions, commanded by a lieutenant colonel. Battlegroup. A battlegroup is generally composed of four regiments, commanded by a high colonel. A battlegroup is used for major offensives against known concentrations of resistance. Corps. Corps are generally composed of four battlegroups, commanded by a major general. This organization often covers all troops in a planetary invasion force. Army. Generally composed of four corps, this organization covers multiple corps engaged in multiple actions, and is commanded by a general. Systems Army. Generally composed of one army, but sometimes containing up to three armies. Commanded by a high general. This organization is more of a book-keeping unit, and the systems army headquarters is responsible for keeping track of all military forces in the system. Sector Army. Generally composed of two to four systems armies, commanded by a surface marshall. This organization covers all troops in a given sector. | Navy Organization in Brief
To get a quick understanding of the organization of the Navy, use the following reference. Navy organization is completely different from the Army's method — while the Imperial Army has a "baseline" Order of Battle (OB), with carefully classified exceptions to this OB, Navy command simply assigns the most appropriate force to the most appropriate mission. Therefore, while the listings below are "theory," Naval mission assignments in practice often bear little resemblence to the OB. Command. A single ship command, commanded by a captain. Line. Theoretically a unit of four ships, commanded by a captain of the line. In practice, lines vary from as few as one ship to as many as 20. A line is normally the smallest unit used in space battles. Squadron. Normally has 14 to 60 ships, commanded by an admiral. Normally the largest force of ships assigned to a single system. Systems Force. Strength varies by mission profile: force superiority units have three battle squadrons and a light squadron, for up to 90 ships. Commanded by a systems admiral (also known as a commodore). A systems force is responsible for several systems. Fleet. The force deployed to an entire sector. These also vary immensely: a superiority fleet has four system forces, two force superiority units and two force escort units, with six Star Destroyers and 390 other combat starships. Commanded by a fleet admiral. Sector Group. The total of Naval strength in a sector. Commanded by a high admiral. Can contain at least 2,400 ships (of which 1,600 are combat starships, including 24 Star Destroyers). |
Stormtroopers
SpecForce Organization
SpecForce generally follows the same organizational model as the rest of the Alliance's military assets, though SpecCom is given greater flexibility and autonomy than other branches of the service (largely to facilitate SpecForce's operational response time). SpecForce is broken down into various elements: divisions, regiments, companies, platoons, squads, fire teams, and taskforces.
There are roughly 10 SpecForce divisions scattered throughout the galaxy at any time. One division, the Command Division, is attached to Alliance High Command at all times and has a representative regiment of all specializations. A wilderness regiment is assigned to the actual Command Base, along with local SecForce units, specific unit types varying depending on the terrain of the current baseworld. A SpaceOps regiment and HWS regiment is attached to the Fleet. The remaining regiments are divided among the other Supreme Commands. Intelligence uses an infiltrator regiment and pathfinder regiment, for example, while Starfighter Command uses a mixed specialty regiment, doubling as support personnel and fighting forces. This division answers to General Madine, via subordinate generals and colonels.
Five divisions are assigned more or less by region, some regiments attached to Sector Commands on an ongoing, but not permanent, basis. Other regiments are mobile from sector to sector, as operational demands shift. These divisions answer to a general.
The rest are deployed as rogue divisions, mobile by regiments or companies from command to command, sometimes attached to sector commands, sometimes attached to other divisions. In theory, these divisions and constituent units answer to whatever divisional general they are currently assigned to, but are headed primarily by regimental colonels.
Divisions are made up of several regiments, generally one regiment of each specialist troop type. A division should be able to call up a sizable number of each kind of specialist, but attrition and transportation difficulties sometimes makes this a logistical challenge. Thus a division theoretically has a minimum of eight regiments under its command.
Regiments, like divisions, are primarily an accounting unit. They rarely see action as a unit. Regiments are usually commanded by a colonel, although majors are often in command as situations dictate. Regiments are consistently numbered by type in each division. Regiments are made up of three to six companies, four being the norm.
A regiment is the pool from which operational taskforces are assembled. Once a mission is defined and a taskforce commander assigned, the TC meets with regimental commanders and hashes out the needs of the mission. Regiments, companies, platoons, and squad are then assigned to the mission as available.
A company is usually comprised of five platoons and commanded by a captain or major. Companies are usually the largest unit to see action. Functionally, there are two kinds of companies: order companies and taskforce companies.
Order companies (order of battle companies, or OBCs) are administrative units, useful for keeping track of assets. OBCs are made up of a single specialist type, and rarely see action as a unit.
Taskforce companies (TFCs) are cross-attached with other regimental order companies to comprise field mission units. Such units are generally composed of two or three platoons of a particular troop type (for example, Pathfinders), with two or three other platoons of mixed kinds rounding the unit out. Thus, the company is referred to as a Pathfinder company, but may include a number of other specialists.
In either case, companies are identified by a letter in the aurebesh alphabet: i.e., Aurek, Besh, Cresh, and Dorn Companies.
Platoons are made up of four squads. They are identified numerically and commanded by a lieutenant. Platoons are also cross-attached with other platoons to match their missions and sent on missions as small taskforces.
A squad has five to fifteen troopers and is commanded by a sergeant. Squads are identified by color—Red Squad, Blue Squad, Green Squad, and Gold Squad, for example. There is no set method of assigning squad colors and the designations change as needed.
Most squads are primarily of a particular troop type, but can include cross-attached elements, most often as an attached fire team. Any squad with a heavy weapons detail, APC driver, Pathfinder point team, or other inconsistent squad member has a cross-attachment. These cross-attached squad members tend to remain attached to their squad for morale and performance purposes.
A fire team is the basic tactical element of squad manuever, consisting of two to five troopers. Troopers should not act in the field without fellow team members, if possible. A fire team is usually supervised by a senior trooper, also called a first trooper in scandocs.
As mentioned earlier, SpecForce missions are performed by a taskforce. A taskforce may include anywhere from a regimental-sized unit to several squads. Most taskforces are company- or platoon-sized. A taskforce is commanded by a taskforce commander, an officer temporarily assigned to mission command. A TC is selected purely on the basis of ability. There is no ego involved—TC is not a coveted position. The TC is ultimately responsible for mission success and every mission is considered crucial to the advancement of the Alliance's war.
Usually the TC is of a rank appropriate to the size of the units involved. A platoon-sized taskforce is typically commanded by a lieutenant. A company-sized taskforce would probably be commanded by a captain or major.
Once selected, the TC requisitions however many units of appropriate size are needed for the mission, limited by the available force mix. There is no typical taskforce mix. A taskforce may be made up of one Pathfinder company. Antoher could be a SpaceOps company with an infiltrator squad. Another might be as complicated as: two Pathfinder squads, one Infiltrator squad, one Wilderness Fighter squad, one HWS squad, one UCS company, and necessary additional specialists.
New Republic Defense Force
A Defense Force Fleet is parallel in function and size to an augmented Imperial Sector Group, but covers an entire region, consisting of dozens of sectors. A New Republic flet is comprised of battlegroups, each battlegroup sub-divided into task forces of about 20 ships. The Fifth Fleet is more consistently organized than others—five battlegroups, each with five taskforces. Some fleets are much larger, but made up of older ships in less well-regimented units. The New Republic Defense Force is not as obsessed with modular organization as the Empire was, and sizes its military to the needs of the sectors they patrol rather than trying to organize sectors to the needs of the military.
Starfighter Organization
Starfighter organization doesn't work the way it is seen in Star Wars computer games.
Flights of four starfighters are the most common tactical unit deployed. A squadron typically has three flights. Occasionally, squadrons have mixed starfighters. In these cases, the transferred unit(s) are flights. Two groups of six starfighters each should be a rare absurdity.
Each flight has two elements. The element is the smallest tactical unit deployed. It consists of two starfighters: a leader and his wingman. They are responsible for each other's safety at all times. In the Imperial Navy, comlink call signs and orders are issued to leaders only.
These two units reflect life and combat on the ground. The flight, with its four starfighters, can be divided if one member is badly damaged. It is protected by its wingman while the other pair fight or go to get help. This is similar to hiking, where the minimum safe number is four. The squadron level, with its three flights, is suggestive of deploying two units forward while the third is held in reserve, so that it may reinforce or deal with contingencies. This is a standard practice for armies.
The wing is the basic starfighter configuration of navies based on the Old Republic model. A starfighter wing in the Old Republic was a nebulous concept, ranging from 3 to 6 squadrons of short- or long-range starfighters. A wing was usually dispersed in a line, one squadron based on most cruisers, or two based on the Victory-class Star Destroyer. The wing could not be any more standardized than it was because the Navy lines of the period were so highly variable. Wing commanders were attached to line flagships, and as lines tended to vary with each mission, a wing commander might find himself with a wing of two squadrons in one month and six squadrons in another.
Currently, an Imperial attack line is partially defined as a line able to fly at least a short wing of starfighters, and a heavy attack line is expected to fly at least one full wing of starfighters.
Imperial TIE wings are more standardized than any other navy's wings. An Imperial Navy wing consists of 72 TIEs in six flights of varying models — three fighter squadrons, one recon, one interceptor, and one bomber squadron. An Imperial Army wing consists of 40 TIEs in 10 flights of varying models — two fighter squadrons, a bomber squadron, and a recon squadron. [Army 'squadrons' frequently only have one flight.]
For our purposes, a short wing typically has three or four squadrons, while a long wing typically has six squadrons. The starfighter complement aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer or Escort Carrier is a long wing. The starfighter complement aboard an MC80 (three squadrons) or an MC80B (four squadrons) is a short wing. Because of the background in the Rebel Alliance of having short wings aboard star cruisers, it is common for the New Republic to treat its newer capital ships as having two short wings, even though they carry six starfighter squadrons, especially the MC90. The Mon Calamari Super Cruiser and the Endurance Fleet Carrier, however, which carry twelve squadrons each, divide their complements into two long wings.
Paired wings aboard New Republic warships typically have separate roles. One is used for close support, defense, and bombing, while the other is set up for long-range attack. This division of roles is another hold-over from the old Rebel Fleet, which had separate commands for defense and attack wings.
Paramilitary Organizations
Chief Officers. In real life, local police and fire departments are led by a chief. In New York City, fire chiefs are known as battalion chiefs and are part of a larger organization. Fire departments also have a few assistant chiefs.
Line Officers. These are captains and lieutenants. In a fire department, they are first- and second-in-command of a company or of one or more vehicles (as vehicle foremen), during operations, although a company may have a president and other officers because it is also a social organization. There may be more than one lieutenant or even more than one sergeant. There may also be a co-captain. (Having a captain and lieutenant for a vehicle may explain the status held by Han Solo and other freighter captains, rather than giving them the equivalent of full Navy rank of captain.)
Personnel. Each member of a paramilitary organization still has a rank even if he is not an officer: Firefighter, Deputy, [Police] Officer, etc.